Warrior
by Black Archivist
Summary: The fragments of the life of the god of war.
1. Me

**For EllukaMarlon who inspired the conceptualization of this piece. If you're reading this. I do hope that this is as you wished for. In any case please do feel free to comment.**

 **I own none of the gods since they belong to their own respective culture. Thank you for reading this** **piece.**

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Red, the colour of passion, the colour of desire, the color of danger and the blood spilled on the battlefield. For as long as I could remember I've always had a penchant for the color red, the color of life. You may have heard of me and my cowardice, my unbridled fury, as well as the countless conquests. You all think you know my story, but to hell with that because I am still telling you anyways. If you don't want to listen then get your sorry ass out of here before my kick shows you the exit.

This story began way before I was even born; it began with my mother. My mother was said to be the most beautiful and sought after goddess of her time. Silky chocolate coloured tresses, vibrant green eyes that put emeralds and jade to shame, fair complexion, rosy cheeks, full lips, and a smile that can probably brighten up the underworld. At least that is what I was told growing up, but I really find it hard to believe. Then again that was a time before all this, a time before me.

You see I wasn't conceived in the most wonderful circumstances. My mother didn't plan to have me or even want me to begin with. After all, who would want to have proof of being violated look at them and call them"mom", and most importantly who would have wanted to give birth to war? I don't know if she could've loved me, for all that I stood for. I was a reminder of all that went wrong in her life.

My father was never proud of me either. He was never around or at least when he was it was just to bring in his "perfect" children and rub it in our faces. I don't know what made me the way I am today but it probably has something to to with the man who sired me.

Now that we got those out of the way I'll start talking about my childhood. I was born and raised in the palace on top of Mount Olympus. I was a happy child who sought nothing more than the affection of his parents. Sure I played a bit rough but what can I say? Boys will be boys. I was happy playing with my parents oblivious to the pained looks that at times escaped mother's eyes when she looked at me. I asked her if I did anything wrong but she simply shook her head and smiled. That was my fondest memory of them and probably the last. Not long after my home fell apart. Father was home less and less, mother was sad and irritable, and my sisters were in no better condition than me and our dear mother. We were all neglected and the worst part was that we do not know what we did wrong. We did not know what made father want to see less and less of us.

Not long after we grew up and we grew apart. I knew we never compared to that smart ass Athena, or those twins, or that pest Hermes, or even that drunk ass Dionysus. Never. Not once in Father's eyes were we as worthy as they were of his praises, his attention, his love. Then again we grew without it. I became a warrior, a god, worshipped, feared. I became a man along with a lot of things. I never knew just how starved of love until I met her. Until I met the goddess of love.

Love and war are two things people see as opposites. One is linked to mindless bloodshed and the other to fondness. What they never see is just how these two things are founded upon the same thing; passion. It is passion that feeds desire, that feeds conquest. I have seen and started many wars but none compare to the war called love. I have loved her before that wretched brother of mine took her as his prize. Before Hephaestus there was me, before him it was us. We were in love. At least that is what I thought it was.

We had children, wonderful children I was proud of. Eros was more like his mother but damn did that boy show Apollo just how passion can burn a man. I can never forget just how a simple shot from my son brought the sun god to his knees in despair, the same despair their very existence brought upon us. Phobos and Deimos also made me proud and still do. They are some of the children I have sired and continue to be proud of over the ages. They are the children that kept me fighting in this war called life.

I am Ares, a man, a warrior, a god and I will never stop fighting. I shall water the earth with the blood of my enemies and paint the sky red for my passion shall never end


	2. Love

**Well, if someone is still reading well that's very nice of you. Please do leave a review or something with your thoughts on this piece. I know I'm not much of a writer but I still hope that you still find this worth reading.**

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Huh, so you're still here to listen to me whinge about how my life is one huge constantly snowball of mistakes. With that in mind let's start with one of the biggest mistakes I ever made, loving the goddess of love.

Any guy in their right mind would fall in love with her one way or the other. I mean come on the lady is the literal personification of beauty and damn am I not passing her up. She was, no is beautiful and above all she was passionate. She was so full of life and light when I met her. It was magnetizing and I could not help but be drawn like a moth to a flame. She's the drug that slowly became as vital as air to a man.

I met her as a young god, much like the equivalent of a mortal teenager or young adult or whatever you choose to call it. I was a lot wilder and reckless during those days. Now I ask myself why I did half of the things I did back then. At first I was curious about the goddess. She was different from mother and my aunts and siblings. At least to me she was. She made me feel what could have been love. I don't really know. Love has always been a vague concept for me growing up. All I knew that I had to talk to her, keep her company even for just a few brief moments.

"Hi," she said beaming at me. She was the first person apart from mother and my little sisters to look at me like that. That dear reader is how yours truly took the plunge of becoming one of the greatest fools for love. It started with innocent gazes, short conversations, and laughter. We'd argue from time to time about the world. She saw it as a beautiful place that can be filled with beautiful things like love, happiness, beauty, but to me it was all grey, cold, and lifeless. She was as passionate and stubborn as I was when it came to things. She was my lifeline and breath of life, until one day our little sanctuary fell apart.

Dearest mother got into another tiff with the king of Olympus some time back and did something no one would think a mother could do (or at least that's what the rest of the world was told); throw away her son on the side of the mountain. Years later, that same bundle came hobbling up the mountain with his disfigured mug and crippled form. He came as a craftsman offering gifts and for some reason mother wasn't able to recognize him. It's kind of hard to believe she wouldn't recognize a face like that specially when she gave birth to the creature. That aside you have probably heard of how he ended up trapping her to a chair and getting someone who'd be his trophy wife for setting mother free. Well, that's when I experienced my first greatest regret; waiting for too long that I ended up too late. She wasn't mine to keep anymore.

Safe to say I was furious. That cripple of all people ended up marrying her. That man who hardly knew her ended up being her husband. Then again, it isn't like a contract and half-meant vows were enough to keep us apart. With this new challenge came the thrill of taking a gamble and tempting fate. It was exhilarating. Perhaps this is why father acted the way he did. The feeling of actually being "alive" and not just exist for indefinite amounts of time. Kind of like the feeling you mortals get watching horror movies. The suspense and thrill just keeps you wanting more. Needless to say we weren't free from guilt either. After all, he was still my brother even if it was more of a sham than anything. After a while it started to kill us slowly til that day he ended up catching us in a golden net and demanding a divorce while publicly humiliating us. Being well, me, I ended up getting more and more furious with my brother. He went too far with that but in the end I guess I felt sorry for the man. After all he went through... he was still the cripple, the butt of the jokes in the Fates' divine comedy. We got off without any punishment and in the end he was the one humiliated.

In the end I became the man I did not want to be. I became my father.


	3. Consequences

Some science dude once said for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, which is some fancy way to say that everything has consequences. This in particular applies to that time my dearest brother caught me with his wife in a golden net. Action, I snatched the love goddess from under his nose; reaction, we all get publicly humiliated and as a bonus said love goddess said something that I cannot seem to get a hold of.

"Ares, ARES! Did you hear a word of what I said?!" she screeched. My mind was a blank still trying to process what she was trying to say. "I just said I'm pregnant you doof" she repeated. Yep, I can't get seem to get those three words through my head.

Unable to think of a proper response I said the first thing that ever came to mind, "What do you want me to do about it?"

"Well I don't know! I'm panicking okay?!" she screamed back

"We'll think of a way. Just calm down. We won't be able to think if you keep on yelling" I replied trying to wrap my head around her words. I don't know what to do. Every course of action seemed to end badly. If we came clean and admitted to it, Zeus (the hypocrite) and Hera would have a tirade about us being irresponsible and whatever they could accuse us of. Worst of all the poor kid would most likely be seen as some sort of outcast because let's face it no one likes me and him being born a bastard won't be doing him any favors either

"I'm scared..." she mumbled

"I'll make sure it'll be okay. I promise" I tried reassuring her. I knew that I won't be able to do that exactly but I won't fail without trying. No, I won't fail. This child will be okay. I'll sort this out and make sure that the fallout wouldn't destroy the boy.

A few days later, we decided to do something that we never thought we'd ever do in a life time. We talked to Hephaestus. As expected he didn't want to talk to us either.

"Please, just hear us out. I know this is asking too much but please we're desperate," I pleaded. I never thought I'd ever plead. I'd threaten, attack, but never plead. Then again this is no normal debacle.

"I owe you two no favors," he sneered trying to shut the door

"We know but please it won't do you any harm to consider," I added

"Your problem not mine so I'm not listening," he replied glaring daggers at us

"Please, its for our son," I added keeping him from closing the door

He looked at us then sighed. "Very well then you have five minutes," he replied gesturing us inside

"I know this is a lot but... we'd like to ask you to help raise him. He'll know you as his father" I said bitterly. I know I shouldn't be bitter but having any child of mine acknowledge another as their father leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Then again this is one of those times where it's better to let them go do just that. If that's what it takes for them to have a better shot, who am I to take it away from them. I can't be the one that they call father, but I will always be their father.


	4. Coward

Well, where did we stop? Oh yeah my kids. Right. Well every kid that I had with Aphrodite grew up knowing Heph as their dad. They spent most of their time around the man and i can't blame them. I wasn't around much either. Then again I didn't know jack about kids much more as to how to raise em and be a good dad n stuff.

The only inkling I had to good parenting is to not do whatever ours did to us and our mother. The ironic part is that I'm turning out to be just like him. I grew up resenting the fact that he'd abandon us and try to replace us with these "new models" of partners and children that would make him proud. Now, I am that man who's going after a woman he could never have and siring children he could never raise. I've become a man just as wretched as my father and I don't know how to stop.

It makes me think back on the times when we were happy and how we all fell apart. I remember playing with my little sister and my brother just like children would. Father still visited us every once in a while and we hadn't a care in the entire world. We were together. We were a family. We were happy...

I can remember it all like it was yesterday. I can recall when everything started crumbling down on us.

 _"Ares am I bad?" I heard my little sister Eris ask as she compressed herself into a ball, holding her knees close with her eyes fixed on the ground_

 _"No, what'd make ya think of somethin so stupid eh?" I asked back smiling at her "who gave my sister that idea? heck I'll beat the crap outta anyone who'd say that to ya" I reassured sitting next to her_

 _"Then why is daddy replacing us? I apologized for breaking the statue. I didn't mean to," she blurted out upset as she tried to compress even more. I was at a loss for words. I didn't know what to tell her. Deafening and awkward silence hung in the air for what seemed like forever until I found my voice. It was the first time I ever lied to anyone._

 _"Daddy would never replace us. You're just bein silly is all. Now why dun we play that game you liked. I'll make sure we stay outta trouble this time. you know what we should probably get Hebe, Theiya, n Heph too. the more of us the merrier right?" I said trying to get her to smile again._

That was the last time we ever played like that. Shortly after that rebellion thing broke out and you're probably familiar with who ended up punished for it. If you guessed Hera then you're most certainly a smart cookie. We didn't know what happened. Zeus got angry and hung our mother in the sky with weights on her ankles like a damned chandelier for who knows how long. You know what's worse? I wasn't able to do jack squat about it. I was too afraid to do anything about it. Cowardly Ares. Foolish Ares. oh what a lot of things I was during those times and it cost us dearly.

Remember how I told you Hephaestus was thrown off the mountain at a very young age? Well it wasn't just for bein the least good looking pup in the litter. It was for doing something that I should have done as a son. He tried to save our mother and I didn't even help or try to stop him. I just stood there and watched everything as I froze in fear.

I just stood and watched him get pushed down while Hera watched in horror and Zeus froze unable to believe what he had just done. He sent my brother hurtling down the mountain never to be heard from again. At least that's what everyone thought but we all know how that ended.

Looking back at all this it was clear as day... I wasn't the father that my children deserved... I'm still not and probably never will be. Maybe this is why it burns to see them all with Hephaestus... He became the man I could never be and yet he's the butt of all the jokes because I wasn't able to save him that day. I failed.


	5. Lucid

The tension in the house grew to the point that it stopped being a home. It was a palace. It was where the King and Queen of the Gods lived. It wasn't our home. Not anymore. We had a house but we were homeless and it stayed that way. It didn't end with our parents because eventually we also drifted apart. Well I was still with Enyo and Eris, but it wasn't as it used to be. We simply weren't children anymore. We were gods doing our duty in the battlefield.

They grew up beautifully to say the least. Enyo is basically me with cleavage and hell that woman is a total knockout both in the literal and figurative sense of the word. She was strong and tall with a build that can intimidate a grown man. It also helps she got dad's electric glare. Eris was a lot like mother with those dark tresses framing her face with soft and full lips. She didn't fit in with the battle field, at least she wasn't supposed to with how she looked. Then again, that somber expression that seemed to have plastered itself on her face fit in perfectly.

It's one of those days where we have to watch a war break out. The sun breaking at the horizon followed by the sound of horns signalling the start of a charge, and again I see her. It wasn't pleasant to see her like that. It wasn't my sister. It was something else. It was someone else. It was the goddess of discord.

"Play time" she says in a sickly sweet voice as her lips. She's gone off again

"Try not to break them too much," I reply as I put on the helmet. Today isn't the time to be sentimental. I'm a god of war and this is war.

"Enough dawdling, we have work to do you two," barked Enyo raising her sword and we began with the routine. We started losing ourselves in our work and still that image gnaws at the back of my mind. I'm losing my sister and I don't know what I'm going to do about it

If it's hard to find Dionysus sober, its even harder to find Eris lucid. She's hardly truly awake these days. I don't know when she started slipping, but I'm afraid she's completely fallen off the edge by now. It was never a matter of me not wanting to do anything, it was a matter of not knowing if I could do anything. The battle went on and on and eventually we were free to go "home"

"I'm scared," I heard a soft shaky voice mumble

Enyo turned and looked at our youngest. I can tell that she didn't have the slightest idea what to do. Should she reprimand Eris for showing weakness in the battlefield, or should she comfort her. We were at a loss. We haven't heard her talk like that in a long time. Before we even had the chance to say anything that fleeting moment disappeared.

"Did I say something weird?" Eris followed with that sickeningly sweet and mocking grin

"No, you didn't" replied Enyo trying to smile for her but ending up making one of the weirdest faces I've seen

"You look funny" Eris giggled as she skipped along jumping on top of one corpse to another

" Hey Eris, hold still for a moment" I said trying to get her to stop moving around

"This is no fun," she replied with a pout

"Why not crash with me and Enyo for a bit? We could use the extra company" I said smiling a bit

"You're inviting me to stay over?" she said slowly like a toddler learning new words.

"You're our sister Eris, you're always welcome. It's only a matter of whether or not you take it or not" added Enyo in that stiff militaristic tone she has gone ever so accustomed to

"So you going to come with us?" I asked again. It was then that I caught a glimpse of it again. It was faint but it was there.

I saw my sister Eris


	6. Man Up

This is terribly late and I sincerely apologize for that. It is also mainly a late night thought vomit so here you go. it's also rather anticlimactic but it's all I can do I'm afraid

 _Beware my young warrior_

 _for life shall not be bliss_

 _Beware my young warrior_

 _for there may never come a time such as this_

 _Beware my wayward son_

 _for life for you has only just begun_

Mother was right to say those words. Things didn't really go back to how they were before the family drifted apart. Guess that's immortality for you; Promises being nothing but pretty words and disappointment. There's a lot of things I asked for in life; our family being complete, Eris being back to normal (well as normal as an immortal can get), having my own family, and well being happy.

I've seen the perfect afternoon in my mind's eye once or twice. Mother and Father sitting in the balcony having a playful banter over tea like they used to with all my siblings carefree and left to their own devices chatting about while I play with my own lil tykes probably with my wife by my side. Eris pulling pranks with Hermes in the corner while Heph and Athena talk about the next big thing that will bring civilization to greater heights unaware of the mischief the former duo is about to unleash. It's perfect, peaceful, and everyone is happy. Then again, even gods can dream right?

I spent a good chunk of my life waiting for that day and doing all sorts of stupid things so that I can at least get one of the things I hoped for, but here I am still. I can spend all my life wishing for things that can never be and keep telling myself one day things will be better, but that hasn't taken me anywhere now has it? I've neglected my own nature by passively wishing my life away.

Life isn't a fairytale where you can just wait and wait and wait for things to get better. Life is just what it is. I have been so fixated on the past and my own fantasies that I have forgotten this. Things happen and sometimes you can't do anything to change it, but that doesn't change the fact that the situation is there and you are there. Denying it won't make it go away, nor does wishing, but you can do something. I forgot how to actually struggle and so something about it. I became the very thing I didn't want to become; a decoration. I have stopped acting and became a mere spectator. I havemade myself helpless and powerless, and that has to change.

Eris needed a strong brother but I wasn't, I chose to be like the others living a hollow existence.

Mother needed a strong son she can rely on and be proud of, but I chose to tread the same path my father did.

There were a lot of opportunities like this that I missed while holding on to the notion that fate or someone else was going to fix the problems we had. I was naive to waste away waiting for father or anyone to just fix it when I could've done it myself. I could have been there for my siblings and helped them like a good brother would, but I chose to let myself become self-absorbed lamenting over our situation. This has to change; I have to change.

it's about time I take charge and get my sorry ass out of the sidelines and start acting like who I was meant to be; a

son, a brother, a lover, a father, a warrior.

I am war. I am change. I am passion and the struggle that creates men our of boys and women our of girls. Iam Ares the god of war and I am the master of my own fate.


End file.
